Check out these tips on welcoming home your new chicks. See what you need to do to prepare for chicks, and how to keep them healthy. After bringing your chicks home, focus on three core elements: warmth, water, and feed.

 

Before your chicks arrive you’ll need a few items such as a brooder, a waterer, shavings, a heat lame, and a starter chick feed. Watch your chicks closely for the first couple of days to make sure they adjust to their new home. Monitor the temperature, you can do this with a thermometer or you can judge by watching the chicks.  If they all converge under the heat lamp, it’s too cold. If they form a circle around the lamp, it’s too hot. Raise or lower the lamp until the chicks are evenly dispersed.

Keeping the brooder clean is a top priority to the health of your flock. Clean and refill waterers daily. Wash waterers and feeders daily with mild dish detergent and sterilize with a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. To keep your chicks dry, line the bottom of your brooder with pine shavings. At least once per week you should remove your chicks from the brooder and give it a thorough cleaning using the bleach solution.

A complete feed is needed for your new chicks.

-Courtesy of: Purina Animal Nutrition